Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to recognize an exceptional sports team from my riding of Thunder Bay—Rainy River for its outstanding season in 2017. I would like to warmly congratulate Atikokan High School senior boys volleyball team, the Voyageurs, for winning the regional NORWOSSA championship in November. The athletes and their coaching staff performed exceptionally well, placing fifth in their division at OFSAA, and showing the rest of the province the talent we have in northwestern Ontario.
I had the opportunity to visit the grade 10 civics class at Atikokan last November, and I was impressed by the knowledge and eagerness of the students, as well as their school spirit. I happened to be there just after the team had won NORWOSSA and was preparing to head to Toronto to play the best teams in all of Ontario. They had the support of their entire community behind them.
I congratulate the team. They made northwestern Ontario proud.